Wave Pools often use conventional wave generators to produce waves. These conventional Wave Pool wave generators are most commonly pneumatic, vacuum; drop water system or are plows towed through the water to create a surfing wave.
Waves that are generated artificially for surfing or recreation in a body of water known as a
Surf-Pool must meet a number of criteria:
1. They must be of sufficient size and preferably exceed one meter in height. (3.28 feet).
2. They must travel at their natural velocity from the wave-making apparatus towards a sloping or contoured beach where they may break and dissipate their energy without being reflected.
3. For the installation to be economically viable, they must be produced at a high repetition rate, preferably in excess of 180 surfable rides per hour.
4. The waves should be essentially monochromatic, i.e. of a single frequency and without any significant smaller intermediate waves or harmonics or parasitic waves.
1. Waves should begin with a trough followed by a wave crest.
2. Waves should have ‘laminar flow’ characteristics as opposed to ‘turbulent flow’.
There are a variety of different wave generators that are used to produce artificial waves in surf pools and wave pools. One conventional wave generator is the pneumatic surf wave or also called a Vacuum Wave Generator. The pneumatic surf wave stores water in cement caissons and uses the water weight to produce the desired wave. The pneumatic surf wave uses gravity to discharge the water from the caissons. The pneumatic surf wave uses a fan to expel the air in the chamber, causing a vacuum to draw the air upward. When the air is at its maximum capacity, the air is released into the chamber to create the wave. The caissons of the pneumatic surf wave are generally positioned upright.
Wave pools, surf pools and water rides often use conventional wave generators to produce waves. The design of the pool is very important for producing waves. If the design of the pool is flawed, the pool will not produce waves. Even in nature with the correct beach, perfect waves are rare, because the waves depend upon environmental conditions, such as tides, wind, and direction of off-shore storms.
By controlling the bottom profile of the wave-pool, or the direction of the waves, or a combination of both, the waves should be caused to break or peel progressively from one end to the other, thereby creating waves that are of interest to surfers. Prior Art
A water drop wave-making apparatus includes a water reservoir apparatus, whereby water is pumped into one or more vertical tanks located at one end of a wave-pool. When full of water, rapid-action valves are opened to evacuate the stored water into the wave-pool by gravity and thus generate a wave. The two principal problems with this method are that the waves are turbulent and also the waves can only be produced at a rate of 30 to 40 per hour depending on the power and capacity of the pumps.
Another example of a surf-pool utilizes a paddle or flap which is hinged at the bottom of the pool and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,192 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,570. Actuators are arranged to move the paddle to and from in order to generate waves. Due to the smaller volume of water displaced by the paddle, the waves produced by this method are smaller than those produced by a piston.
A second type of wave-making apparatus is typified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,107 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,859 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,101. A wide, thin jet of pumped water is directed horizontally against a fixed, curved profile in order to simulate a breaking wave. Though popular, a problem is that these do not behave like ocean waves and are regarded by surfers as an entirely different sport.
A third type of wave-making apparatus is described in U.S. Patent No. 2012/00 17951 A1. This apparatus moves an underwater profile on tracks along the bottom of a wave-pool. The water thus displaced forms a breaking wave. The principal problem with these pools is that because the underwater profile has to be moved back and forth along the bottom of the wave-pool, a wave repetition rate of only about 120 per hour can be achieved.
A fourth type of apparatus and method for generating waves in a body of water is revealed in US Publication 4976570 (Walter R. Davis, Todd H. Nahraup). A moveable wave-generating member is cyclically reciprocated in the body or water to make waves. A disadvantage of this device is that a chamber and a baffle positioned adjacent the wave generating member dissipates energy from the return stroke. As the dissipated energy can do no useful work, the apparatus is inefficient for producing waves.
Further methods and mechanisms for generating waves suitable for surfing such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,192 and U.S. Pat. No. 534,215 are known, but like the aforementioned methods and mechanisms they suffer from not being able to efficiently produce waves suitable for surfing.
Another method and mechanism for generating waves suitable for surfing such as patent WO2015082871 are known, but like the aforementioned methods and mechanisms require constructing a 90 degree concrete back wall within the surf pool. This invention also requires constructing lateral walls to create a flume for the system to operate. This system requires substantial costs to construct this system. Unlike in the current invention does not require a 90 degree back concrete wall and does not require laterally walls to create a flume. The current invention utilizes the dirt excavated from creation of the surf pool to create a 45 degree wall with minimum construction costs.
Another conventional wave generator is the surf wave generator or Water Cannons or Set Wave System. See. Carnahan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,393 A and Garrett Johnson, US20090038067. The Set Wave System wave generator uses compressed air to release water from caissons to form a wave. The surf wave generator uses rows of caissons positioned along a side of the pool. More specifically, the caissons of the surf wave generator are generally positioned vertically along a back side of the pool.
Another wave generator is the Surge Wave Generators of the plunger type constituted by a body having a given shape and a vertical movement immersing it more or less in the expanse of water in which surge is required to be generated, are known. One shape of plunger often used is that of a simple triangular prism with horizontal generating lines perpendicular to the direction of the surge to be generated and one of whose faces is vertical.
Another conventional wave generator is a plow that is pulled through the water by mechanical means and produces a simulated wave. The plow can be designed in different shapes, such as a conventional snow plow shape or a delta wing shape or tear drop shape. These plows can be pulled by a motor and cable system or they can be affixed to a tracking system driven by a motor or linear motor drive system. See. Odriozola Sagastume, US20100017951 A1.
Another conventional wave generator is the hydrofoil system. A plurality of hydrofoils are placed or connected as arms to a track system that moves the hydrofoil through the water to produce surfable waves. one or more foils, each foil arranged vertically along at least a major part of a the side wall and adapted for movement in a direction along a length of the side wall, each foil having a curvilinear cross-sectional geometry that defines a leading surface that is adapted to generate a wave in the water from the movement, and a trailing surface configured for flow recovery to avoid separation of the flow of water in the wave and mitigate drag from the foil from the movement; and a moving mechanism connected between the side wall and the one or more foils for moving the one or more foils in the direction along the length of the side wall to generate a surface gravity wave by each of the one or more foils. See. Slater, US20100124459 A1.
Another conventional wave generator is the mechanical piston flume wave generator design. A wave generating module for a wave-making apparatus comprising a flume which is flooded water through an open end, a back wall which blocks the flume, and a barrier constrained to move along the flume intermediate the back wall and the open end, characterized by a reciprocating means arranged to displace the barrier towards the back wall to generate a wave toward the back wall that is reflected from the back wall to assist subsequent displacement of the barrier away from the back wall in generating a wave through the open end. See. Baxendale, WO2015082871 A1.
Another conventional wave generator is an air blower generator. These air blowers come in 45 kw or 75 kw sized air blowers. Air blower generators blow air into vertical chambers forcing the water into the pool to produce the waves. These air blower wave generators are efficient, however they lack power and size of the wave.